Al Hunt: Obama Economic Team Needs To Get Its Act Together

A year ago, the expectation was that President-elect Barack Obama's economic team would be a smooth- functioning machine, and the outlook was for turbulence in the national-security arena.

Timothy Geithner, the Treasury-secretary designate, and Lawrence Summers, chosen to head the White House National Economic Council, were unusually able veterans of Washington and financial crises. They were joined by a star-studded cast of economic advisers starting with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, perhaps the most respected financial figure in the world, and prominent academic economists.